Cara H

“The Rift” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #50

The Rift I “Alex, do you remember this?” Seventy-year-old Sabella Laaksonen handed an old Polaroid picture to her sixty-four-year-old brother. A rangy pre-teen girl with strawberry-blonde hair and freckles across her nose stood beside a young dark-haired boy with a similarly freckled nose. A rope ladder extended into the tree behind them, leading up to a treehouse. The boy held a hammer and the girl held a saw. “You’d think it was us that did the work and not Dad,” Sabella chuckled. “Now we’re both gray and I don’t think it would be wise fo...

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“Waiting on a Dream” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #49

Waiting on a Dream I The old house on the outskirts of the tiny town of Eagle, Vermont was a dream come true for Sabella Laaksonen. The seventy-year-old newly retired long-term care nurse had spent most of her life assisting others. She was now ready to take time for herself. Although the house had not been lived in since 1960, it had been kept in good condition by the family of the previous owner. The attic was full of wonderful old things, including books, dolls, and record albums. “You should take this crap over to that doll hospital and ...

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“Reflections of a Heroine” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #48

Reflections of a Heroine I As the gamma radiation caused by the death throes of its twin suns flooded the sixth planet in the Zetar system, the last survivor of the calamity released her hold on life. The broken spirit of Ondina Rvaga, reluctant princess of the planet Zecor’s totalitarian western faction, rose from her ravaged body. Ondina paused to kiss the cold forehead of the tall, slender, flaxen-haired elfin man who lay to her right side. She caressed the cheek of the small, wizened, dark-haired elfin man who lay in an eternal embrace ...

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“A Letter from the End of the World” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #47

A Letter from the End of the World I When Pepper Baiij returned home after her eventful night at work in the Trinity Gardens Retirement Community, she heated a frozen roast beef dinner in the microwave and turned on her computer. Shivering in the cold room, she brought the meal to the bed and covered her legs. She looked at pictures of Gerry Clifford while she ate. “My adorable eyelet morq,” she said wistfully, followed by a shudder. She placed the empty container at the end of the bed for the cats to enjoy. “I have no idea what that means,...

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“The Return” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #46

The Return I November 6, 2014 Time generally passed in a predictable way for Pepper Baiij, a depressive night shift orderly working at the upscale Trinity Gardens Retirement Community in Ransom, Kansas. Around 7 P.M., she forced herself out from under her covers to brave the frigid environment in her squalid mobile home. She gathered a pair of clean scrubs and the items she’d need for swimming and bathing before her shift. She said good night to her cats, who now huddled in the warm spot where her big body had previously lain and where she o...

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“Though It Takes A Thousand Lifetimes” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #44

Though It Takes A Thousand LifetimesA Great SorrowPepper Baiij worked as a nurse’s aide but her real interests tended to remain unspoken. Pepper possessed clairvoyant and clairsentient abilities. She supposed that she could technically be considered a medium, although she shied away from describing herself as such. Most of the time, she sensed emotions rather than hard facts. However, she had seen more than one full-torso apparition during her time working at the sixty-year-old Trinity Gardens Retirement Community and Care Center.Over the ye...

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“Lotus Laments” by Cara H

The MolestationLotus LamentsAlways believing him out of her reachThere was a subtle trembling in her speechWhenever she had something to reportAs she daydreamed of being his consortBut dreams become nightmares for foolish girlsHe stole a treasure more precious than pearlsNever could she believe he was that manA cur in an alley grabs what he canShe believed him to be a righteous gentQuickly from her heart was that belief rentHe was a doctor, she minded his kidsShe is left with the guilt from what he didHer innocence died upon that cold nightT...

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“From Behind” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #41

From Behind Part I: Behind the WallA Rocky LandingA spacecraft resembling a high-tech acorn wobbled drunkenly into the Martian atmosphere. Inside the ship, two Gamma Iridian officers in the guise of human females frantically worked the controls to keep the craft upright. A third woman sat strapped into a passenger seat, her onyx eyes wide with terror. She ran her fingers into the mane of a grand griffin, who sat contentedly chewing on what appeared to be a roast. The unhappy passenger made a face.“Griffy, you would be disgusted if you knew t...

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“The Djinn and the Jolly Wizards” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #40

The Djinn and the Jolly WizardsBackgroundUmar Ali Al-Akbar was a strikingly handsome 4000-year-old Djinn, popular with men and ladies alike. He stood eight feet tall and had a firm, muscular body with a warm, bronze complexion. He had a close-cropped, neat beard and mustache and wavy black hair that was usually covered by his pristine turban.Umar and a dozen of his brothers were employed many millennia ago by a foul-tempered Rakshesha named Paraji. When Paraji’s tryst with a shape-shifting alien from the planet Gamma Iridion went sour, she f...

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“Showers” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #39

ShowersIAlexandru “Sonny” Walton hurtled through a wormhole, feeling as if every molecule was being twisted into a pretzel while the nuclei of his cells rode the endoplasmic reticulum like a roller coaster. He was extremely nauseated when he was dumped unceremoniously onto the ground of what might have been the most unappealing world in the galaxy, if not the entire Universe. Thick, crimson clouds roiled violently in the sky. The ground was covered with dry, red dirt, and Sonny could hardly breathe in the scorching heat. “I think I’m gonna y...

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“The Final Endeavor of Felicity Frank” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #37

The Final Endeavor of Felicity FrankI“Did you hear that someone made off with the Kennedy meteorite?” Ophrah Pololanik inquired of his wife, Mary Elizabeth.Ophrah was a sprightly old fellow built like a scarecrow, whose pale, age-spotted hands quivered when he flapped them about, his voice filled with excitement. He looked a bit like a buzzard with his long neck, beaklike nose, and nearly bald head.Mary Elizabeth, a grandmotherly lady with nut-brown eyes, a warm, brown complexion, and perfectly coiffed dark golden-brown hair, sighed and gave...

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“Secrets in the Snow” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #35

Secrets in the SnowI“You trippin’, Mate?”Night nurse Ace Murray had stepped out of the Candlelight Ridge Care Center in London’s Crouch End borough for a breath of air and an argument with himself about whether he should have a cigarette. He had started smoking at twelve. He was now 51 and had a nasty chronic cough. With his long, slender body, shoulder-length black wavy hair, and pale complexion, Ace knew he looked like a vampire. He did not, however, want to retire to a coffin just yet. Ace was glad for security guard Thomas Octavian’s pec...

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“Beneath the Sands” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #34

Beneath the SandsIA loud clap of thunder roused Anton Delano from his reverie. He chuckled as he realized that he had dozed off while watching UFO conspiracy videos. His chihuahuas, Antonette and Cordelia, had helped themselves to the ham sandwich he’d been eating before he fell asleep. Anton patted the dogs on their sides.“The pair of you are going to turn into round little sausages if you keep snitching Daddy’s food, yes you are!” he declared.Anton was twenty-two years old and lived in a mobile home park on the outskirts of Roswell, New Me...

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“Justice For Greg” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #32

ConfessionOn the night of October 12, 1979, two adolescent girls sat in the basement bedroom of a suburban home in Lawrence, Kansas. Twelve-year-old Pepper Baiij was a painfully shy girl with dishwater-blonde hair and a pronounced overbite with gaps between her top front teeth. Her family hoped that the costly braces she wore would help correct her unattractive smile. Pepper’s companion, Ursula McNamara, was a spirited girl with a pale, freckled face and reddish-brown hair. Ursula had the slender build of a gymnast and there were several tro...

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“Arachne's Obsession” by Cara H

Submitted to Contest #31

Arachne’s Obsession“Mummy, what do you suppose Gerry Clifford would give me for Christmas if he could be here with me?” eighteen-year-old Arachne Desrochers inquired as she sat at the dining room table watching her mother prepare dinner.“Why, whatever you wanted, of course, Dear,” Elaine Desrochers replied as she readied the roast for the pan. Elaine told herself that there was no harm in indulging her daughter’s fantasies about her crush, although her hairdresser, Mister Siegfried Metaxas, said that he found it strange that a girl of Arachn...

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